Buenos Aires plays host to the Rugby Championship clash between Argentina and New Zealand on Saturday, the All Blacks came out on top when the teams met last weekend and they now find themselves outright favourites to go on and win the tournament.
Argentina v New Zealand, Saturday 23rd August, Buenos Aires, KO 23:10 (South African time)
Referee: Nic Berry (RA)
Assistant Referees: Pierre Brousset (FFR), Morné Ferreira (SARU)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (SARU)
Weather Forecast – Buenos Aires
Argentina:
Los Pumas took on the All Blacks in Cordoba last week, they were in the region of 8.5 point underdogs on the bookmakers main handicap line and eventually slipped to a 41-24 defeat.
They were 31-10 down at half time and the try count came in at 6-3 in favour of New Zealand with Isgró, Albornoz and Oviedo dotting down for Argentina, all converted by Albornoz who also landed a penalty.
After this Argentina have a double header with the Wallabies in Australia. They take on the Boks in Durban in Round 5 and the second clash against South Africa will be staged at Twickenham.
After the Round 1 results Argentina have no log points and they are the 80/1 rank outsiders to win the Rugby Championship title in 2025.
New Zealand:
A full house of log points and a perfect start for the All Blacks in last week's win in Cordoba came courtesy of tries from Reece (2), Ratima, Savea, Taukei’aho (2) whilst Beauden Barrett was on target with 4 of the conversions. Los Pumas had reduced the deficit to just 7 points at one stage in the second half but New Zealand pulled away again with a couple of late tries from replacement hooker Taukei’aho.
After this game New Zealand host the Springboks twice and they finish up at home and then away to Australia.
On the back of last week's results the All Blacks price to win the 2025 Rugby Championship title was slashed to 7/20.
Recent Head to Head
2025 RC Cordoba Argentina 24-41 New Zealand
2024 RC Auckland New Zealand 42-10 Argentina
2024 RC Wellington New Zealand 30-38 Argentina
2023 RWC Paris Argentina 6-44 New Zealand (Semi Final)
2023 RC Mendoza Argentina 12-41 New Zealand
2022 RC Hamilton New Zealand 53-3 Argentina
2022 RC Christchurch New Zealand 18-25 Argentina
2021 RC Brisbane New Zealand 36-13 Argentina
2021 RC Gold Coast New Zealand 39-0 Argentina
Team News
Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallía (vc), 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Tomás Albornoz, 9 Gonzalo García, 8 Joaquín Oviedo, 7 Juan Martín González, 6 Pablo Matera (vc), 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Franco Molina, 3 Pedro Delgado, 2 Julián Montoya (c), 1 Mayco Vivas
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Marcos Kremer, 21 Simón Benítez Cruz, 22 Santiago Carreras, 23 Justo Piccardo
New Zealand: 15 Will Jordan, 14 Sevu Reece, 13 Billy Proctor, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Cortez Ratima, 8 Simon Parker, 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Tupou Vaa’i, 5 Fabian Holland, 4 Scott Barrett, 3 Fletcher Newell, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan de Groot
Replacements: 16 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17 Tamaiti Williams, 18 Pasilio Tosi, 19 Josh Lord, 20 Wallace Sititi, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Quinn Tupaea, 23 Damian McKenzie
The Betting
Updated 22 Aug 10h17
Argentina +11.5 points at 9/10
New Zealand -11.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
BETTING ANGLE
My betting angle and plays for Week 2 of the Rugby Championship will be posted on our Rugby Championship Blog which you can view here.
I don't have any firm views on this one but am leaning towards the All Blacks to win a closer game than last week
Likewise Currie Cup Week 5 bets will be posted on this blog and picks for the pool stage of the Womens RWC can be found here.
Finally, all this week's rugby tips from members of the Goodforthegame community can be found on the weekly rugby thread on our discussion forum.
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